Eetson



(No Modem 2 sheets-sum1' H. R. ROBERTSON.

RAPTING LOGS, TIMBERS, (Snc.

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2 Sheets Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

H. R. ROBERTSON.

RAFTING Loes, TIMBBRS, e0.

Patented Mar. 16, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

HUGH RODERIOK ROBERTSON, OF ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSW'IOK, CANADA.

RAFTING Loes, TIMB'ERS, abo.

.Sz'PECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 338,104, dated March 16I 1886.

Application filed November 17,1884. Serial No. 148,161. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, it may concern.-

Beit known that I, HUGH RoDEEIoK RoB- EETsoN, a citizen of the United States, resid-V ing at the city ot' St. John, in the county of St. John, Province of New Brunswick, in the Dominion of Canada, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Mode of Rafting Logs, Timber, Filing-Poles, and Lumber Generally for Deep-Tater Towing, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, which will enable others skilled in the occupation to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Heretofore lumber has been rafted together in bents, cribs, orjoints, generally lying flat on the water, the greater number of the pieces being parallel and with cross-chains or crosspieces attached; and when piled together into deeper structures the same rectangular form has been retained, and has proved insecure and hard to manage in rough water when attempted on a large scale.

The object ofmy invention is to form a raft or pile of lumber that may be towed comparatively easily, and, being securely bound together, will bestiti' and strong and have little tendency to chate or work loose. This I accomplish by laying up the logs and other lumber lengthwise into a structure of cylindrical or oval cross-section, and of any desired length, the logs, &c., breaking joint with each other continually. I also lay aheavy chain or chains lengthwise through the body of the structure and along the sides and attached thereto; and I. attach to the said longitudinal chains cross-chains or radial chains, which run between the pieces of lumber across the pile, and, being drawn tight, are attached at their other ends to encircling chains,which I use to gird the structure tightly round and round. At the ends I may build on shortsections of crib-work to take and distribute the strains of the tow-line or moorings and to form a sort of prow in front.

.In building the raft, I pnt it together on cradles, which will keep it in the desired form until it is securely girt about. Under the term chains77 wire or other ropes or cables are to be included.

In the drawings, Figure l shows the raft in plan with the encircling chainsc c. Fig. 2

Fig. 4 is a cross-section through y by shores or struts p p above four lines ot launchways. w w, with corresponding runners, la k, and set on sleepers s s on a properlygraded slope, g g. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a part showing the same.

I prefer to make it, as shown in the drawings, of a iiattened cigar-shape with a heavy chain, a, running through the center, securely attached at front and rear,and having shackles S and T at these points for the `tow and moor ing lines to be attached to. Attached to this central chain at frequent intcrvals-say seven to ten feet-are radial chains r r, (of which there may be one or more from each point',) running out and drawn tight and attached to the encircling chains c c after these latter have been drawn tight and fastened round the raft at the corresponding intervals. I prefer also to place the heaviest timbers at the bottom `on one of the flattened sides, and I prefer to draw the end together in front and Hatten it vertically, allowing certain of the sticks to protrude and their ends to be built into a crib-work, giving vertical posts to distribute the side strains of the tow-line and to answer as mooring-posts, if required, crosspieces being added to strengthen it. I may also add on a false cut-water, and at the rear I may provide mooring-posts in like manner.

The cradles or iorms are temporary timber structures, in each of which a cross piece (or pieces) is laid down and other pieces added, either as wedges or posts and dogged together or otherwise fastened and supported in position, giving the desired form to the under side of the raft while building, set in the desired lines at frequent intervals along or on the breach or bank or on the ice or in the water, over launchways or not, as the case may require, in a convenient place from which the IOO raft can be launched or floated into open Water and towed wherever required.

The cradles or forms not forming any part of the raft, nor being necessarily fastened to-V gether nor to the raft, nor used to tow it on or in, may, on launching or completion, be separated therefrom and used again for the same or any other purpose.

I do not claim a collapsible grillage or crib for towing lumber on or in, nora grillage with removable stanchions for that purpose; but,

Having fully described my invention, what Ipdesire to claim and secure by Letters Patent 1s l. The eonlbination of a raft composed of a number of pieces of lumber both in cross section and in length, forming a continuons bundle of(practically) parallel pieces7 in which the joint-ing is tlioroug ily broken, and the Whole bound logcther with encircling chains at frequent intervals into a cylindrical or approximately cylindrical forni, with a longitudinal chain or cable, or several such chains or cables, running through the raft or along the sides thereof and fastened thereto, as described.

2. The combination of a raft composed of a number of pieces of lumber both in cross section and in length, forming a continuous bundle of (practically) parallel pieces, in which the jointing is thoroughly broken, and the whole bound together with encircling chains at frequent intervals into a cylindrical or approximately cylindrical form, With a longitudinal chain or cable, orseveral such, running through the raft or along the sides thereof, and with radial or cross chains or cables running irn or through the raft atintervals corresponding with the encircling chains and attached thereto and to the longitudinal chain or chains, all substantially as described.

HUGH hODERICl( ROBERTSON.

Vitiiesses:

JOHN BODEN, R. CHIPMAN SKINNER. 

